and grew! This is a variegated Liquidamber which I special ordered back in 2002. I've never seen another one but it's a lovely tree, very well-behaved unlike the standard sweetgums which are sidewalk lifters around here. This is a smaller variety, supposedly maxes out between 25-35'.

2002 against a 6' fence:

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2009

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Closeup of the variegation. It seems to form more variegation when the weather is hot/sunny. This year has been mostly cloudy and cool, so there wasn't as much variegation.

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Cold temps in the late summer/fall turn the leaves a pretty pinkish-red. But this year it's so warm, they'll probably just go their usual bright yellow, then turn brown and fall off. This photo is from a few years ago when the fall colors really came out. Very few trees have reliable fall color in the San Francisco Bay Area, mostly just Chinese pistache, standard liquidamber, and gingko. My neighbor's persimmon turns a wonderful bright yellow with the orange fruits, very pretty.

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